Joomla! Documentation™

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How to Access

Select Extensions → Language Manager from the drop-down menu on the back-end of your Joomla! installation.

Description

In the Language Manager you can set the default Language for both the Front and Back end of your Joomla! web site.

Column Headers

Both the Site and Administrator tabs have the following column titles. These details are fetched from the XML file included in the language pack.

• Language Name The names of the installed languages on this web site.
• Default The default language of the site, marked with a yellow graphical asterisk in this column.
• Version The version number of the installed language.
• Date This is the creation date of the language.
• Author The name of the language translator is displayed in this column
• Author E-mail The e-mail address of the translator

• Display #. The number of items to display on one page. If there are more items than this number, you can use the page navigation buttons (Start, Prev, Next, End, and page numbers) to navigate between pages. Note that if you have a large number of items, it may be helpful to use the Filter options, located above the column headings, to limit which items display (where applicable).

Toolbar

At the top right you will see the toolbar:

• Default. Select the Language that you want to be the default Language. Then click this button. The default star symbol will show in the Default column, indicating that this is now the default Language.

• Help. Opens this Help Screen.

Site and Administrator Links

At the top left, above the columns, you will see two links as shown below:

• Site. Shows the Languages available for the Front end of the web site.
• Administrator. Shows the Languages available for the Back end of the web site. Note that the languages for the Front and Back end can be different.

Quick Tips

• Users can use any Language from the list of installed Languages, either by having it assigned in the User Manager or by filling out a Menu Item Manager - New/Edit - User Form Layout at the Front end. This will cause the Joomla! system prompts to be generated in this Language just for this User. For example, if a User chooses Spanish as their language, then the Search Module will show with prompts in Spanish, as shown below:

• This User choice is not affected by the Default Language set for the Front End.
• Changing a User or Default Language does not affect the web site's Articles and other content.

• Important: Do not delete the default language files (for example, with FTP). This will create errors on both the Front and Back end.

• Additional Languages can be added using the Extension Manager - Install Screen.

• If desired, you can show the Front-end site in one Language and show the Back-end administration pages in a different Language. Also, individual articles can be configured to use a different language in the Advanced Parameter pane when editing the Article.

Related Information

The languages listed in the Language Manager can be installed in the Extension Manager from Extensions -> Install/Uninstall menu item. The unnecessary languages can be removed on the Languages tab of the Extension Manager.

When several languages are installed, the default interface language can be overridden by a registered user on the Edit Your Details screen opened from User Menu -> Your Details menu item in the front-end after logging in. Users with administration privileges (managers, administrators and super administrators) can select the language of the back-end as well.

The selected language is displayed for the appropriate user in User Manager parameters.